JOOP | SNIJDER Photography

Publish photos to multiple social media sites using Smart Collections

2011-12-05T13:58:00.001+01:00

Terry White from Adobe has a great video How to Use Lightroom 3′s Smart Collections in Publish Services. He explains how to publish photos to multiple social media sites like Facebook, Google+, Picasa, Flickr, 500px, etc the easy way using Lightroom Smart Collections.

Basically it all comes down to this:

Create a 'manual' collection called something like Recent Work
Use Lightroom Publish Services plugins (500px , Flickr, Picasa and therefor Google+, Facebook)
Create a Smart Collection for each Publish Service and add a rule 'Collection starts with Recent Work'
Now you can add new photos to the manual collection and publish them by using the publish button on each Publish Service

Hope you like the tip.

Quick Lightroom Tip: Toggle between Target Collection

2011-09-10T14:00:00.002+02:00

Today I accidentally hit the Ctrl+B key combination in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom while working in the Develop module. And to my surprise, with this key combination you can toggle between the current folder or collection you're working on and the Target Collection.

To mark a collection as the Target Collection, right mouse click on the Collection and select 'Set as Target Collection'. Now when you hit the B key, the current photo will be added to this collection. Very useful to manually collect all kinds of photos into one set.

A plus sign behind the name of the collection indicates that collection is set as Target Collection.

Hope you like this quick tip. Please share some other useful keyboard shortcuts in the comments.

BTW you can find all Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 keyboard shortcuts here.

Two Free Photography eBooks for download

2011-09-08T11:15:00.000+02:00

Beside photographing I like to read about photography. I got a book shelf full of books and and iPad loaded with eBooks. Photographer 85mm has written two excellent eBooks about Street Photography. Packed with valuable information and pretty pictures. The best of all, it's free. No ads, very valuable and free? Thomas Leuthard (85mm) explains in his first chapter why it's free and I love his thoughts. You can download his books here: book.85mm.ch

David Griffin on how photography connects us | Video on TED.com

2011-04-17T11:43:00.001+02:00

Here's a real good story about photography. Wonderful photos combined with great stories. At least watch the end of this video of David talking about a special type of of seal. It's amazing! David Griffin on how photography connects us | Video on TED.com

Lightroom for iPad with Photosmith

2011-03-16T12:13:00.000+01:00

There's great news coming up. A couple of "serious hobbyists" as they call themselves are putting together a very promising iPad App: Photosmith. The guys write on Flickr:

"Photosmith™ is an iPad app that allows tagging of pictures and adding metadata to those pictures, creating / sorting into collections, and basic image management, all on the iPad. It then allows all these changes to be synchronized with Adobe Lightroom, so that all your metadata will be updated on your host computer. Photosmith integrates with Flickr to allow sharing of these photos or collections, as well as the relevant tags."

But they promise more: a full functional develop module. So you can edit your imported photos and even zoom to 100%! They tested it with large 5D Mark II files. After editing metadata and tweaking the photos everything will be synced to Lightroom. Photosmith developed a Lightroom plugin for the synchronisation.

The plugin syncs Lightrooms keyword list so it must be easy to tag all your photos offline with your iPad on the move. For now Photosmith does not sync develop presets, but I hope it is scheduled for a next release.

This week they're shipping the Release Candidate and I'm on list to test drive this promising app. As soon I have the first results I'll let you know!

Lightroom Tip: Speed up spot removal

2011-02-23T13:21:00.000+01:00

Removing dust and sensor spots can be a time consuming task and it's easy to miss some sports. Fortunately Adobe Lightroom supports this task by using the spot removal tool (key: Q in Develop Mode). When zoomed in to 100% Lightroom helps the photographer by scrolling through the entire photo so you won't miss a spot.

Using the Pagedown (PgDn) key Lightroom by default scrolls from the left corner to the bottom. When hitting the bottom it moves up and start a bit to the right at the top of the photo. See example below:

But with photo with a lot of detailed foreground, it's useless to scroll all the way down to the bottom. You just want to check the sky. In order to deal with the sky only, you can hold the Shift key and use Page down (PgDn) to scroll from left to right. Hold Shift and use Page Up (PgUp) to scroll in the opposite direction.

Hope you all like this and keep on shooting!

Why it's smart to export your smart collection settings?

2011-01-27T17:36:00.000+01:00

I have a lot of smart collections to get me through my workflow in Adobe Lightroom. With smart collections I can check whether the right keywords are applied or if all photos have copyright notices. For now my workflow contains 61 smart collections and this morning I mentioned they were gone. Just gone. Must be an error on my site, or a bug in Lightroom, but anyway they were gone!

Fortunately, I had a back-up catalog where they still existed. However Lightroom doesn't support to export Smart Collection Sets. They do support export individual Smart Collections, but not exporting a complete tree with Smart Collection Sets and Smart Collections. A small part of my workflow is listed in the next image. It's not possible to export the tree from '0 Overview'. But you can export all individual Smart Collections.

There's a small bug in Lightroom 3.3, which I reported today, that disables saving a Smart Collection. If your Collection Title contains special characters (e.g. < > / \ etc.), it won't save the settings. The Export dialog won't popup to save the settings.

Best way to save your Smart Collection Settings is by organizing them into folders just as they're organized in Lightroom. This makes the importing process easier.

After finishing all the exports (it's a tedious job) you can open up your working collection and create all the Smart Collections Sets (the folders) manually. For each Smart Collection Set you can import Smart Collection Settings and load all files at once.

Because this is such a tedious job, I will export all my Smart Collection Sets immediately after creation or modification, so I'm always sure to have the latest versions around.

Back-Up Strategy

2011-01-20T13:25:00.001+01:00

I bought a Drobo S to get my photos fail safe on disk, and this reminded me to re-evaluate my back up strategy. Searching for some strategies on the internet I found this great resource from the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) called dpBestflow. They have a great collection of best practices, especially about backup and data validation.

Free Preset: Cooling Down

2011-01-19T15:50:00.000+01:00

Here's another simple, yet effective Adobe Lightroom Develop Preset. It uses the hue/saturation to cool down the overall toning of an image. It can be used for portraits as well as landscapes.

You can download the preset here.

Book Covers

2010-11-09T13:09:00.000+01:00

There are some new books with photo of me on the cover. Both are German translations and available in the German Amazon Store. First one is from the Bristol based author Lesley Pearse. The cover is a twilight shot of St. Michaels Mount in Cornwall.

Second book is from New York based author Jodi Picoult and the landscape at the cover is taken at a small Dutch Island called Texel.

Free Presets

2010-10-20T17:53:00.000+02:00

OnOnesoftware released a free set of Presets for Lightroom and Presets for Adobe Photoshop Camera RAW. I love presets (see my download page) and the previous version containing the WOW! presets for Lightroom were great.

The sets contains 3 volumes. Volume 1 contains the WOW! presets. Volume 2 and 3 contains brand new presets. Volume 3 uses the new features of Lightroom 3 like grain, etc. Here's the complete list of Volume 3:

Reset Everything - Resets all of the development parameters
Auto > Brightness - Sets the brightness automatically
Auto > Contrast - Sets the contrast automatically
Auto > Exposure - Sets the exposure automatically
Auto > Tone - Sets the tone automatically
Auto > White Balance - Sets the white balance (color) automatically
B&W - Used to convert a color image to black and white
Brilliant Blue Skies - Enhances the blue color of skies
Clarity - Increases the clarity, or mid-tone contrast of the image
I'm Mr. Brightside - Adds a bright, colorful spring time feel
Mocha - Creates a warm black and white look
Noise Reduction - Use this to decrease noise from high-ISO images
Old Style - A reduced color look reminiscent of ages photos.
Sharpen - Increases the sharpness
Super Shadow Saver - Great for underexposed images, this preset brightens the shadows
The Dark Side - Darkens the image for a grunge look
Under Tint - A bright grungy look with a hint of color
Vignette - Darkens the corners of the image
Warm - Adds a touch of warmth, like an 85A filter

Compatibility:
Volume 1 support Lightroom 1, 2 or 3
Volume 2 supports Lightroom 2 or 3
Volume 3 support only Lightroom 3

Smart Spot Removal in Lightroom

2010-07-30T13:50:00.000+02:00

Jeff from PhotoWalkPro has a great tip on how to remove hard to find spots in Adobe Lightroom 3. It's an easy and smart way to get all the dust spots from skies, water and all other areas.

Guest Blog: Captured Art: 10 Beautiful Landscapes from Around the Globe

2010-07-29T14:22:00.001+02:00

This guest-post is contributed by contemporary art supplier ‘You Are Art’

Nature can create scenes of beauty that far surpass that of human imagination. Flowers in vivid colours, delicate butterflies, and shifting sand dunes can paint a portrait that renews the spirit while providing unique decorating accents. Those who wish to transcend the mundane might wish to consider our list of the ten most beautiful landscapes from around the world.

1. Angel Falls

(Image Credit: Benedict Adam)

The highest waterfall in the world is Venezuela's Angel Falls. It is more than 3,200 feet in height, plunging over the edge of the Auyantepui Mountain. The great height means that much of its water is transformed into a mist. Its isolated location makes it a difficult area for tourists to access, and most have to settle for an aerial view.

2. Victoria Falls

(Image Credit: Zest-pk)

While Angel Falls may be the highest and Iguazu Falls the widest, Victoria Falls is so impressive that many consider it to merit a place on a list of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. With a width in excess of 5,600 feet, Victoria Falls, located on the Zambezi River between Zimbabwe and Zambia, is also known as The Smoke that Thunders. A panoramic view that captures the mist and the frequent rainbows makes a spectacular addition to any wall.

3. Grand Canyon

(Image Credit: Tobias)

Arizona's Grand Canyon is so massive that a single panorama, while beautiful, cannot capture the complete grandeur of the Colorado River gorge. More than 275 miles long, four to eighteen miles wide, and up to mile deep, the colourful and spectacular rock has made it a popular destination for tourists. The varying shades of orange, brown, red, and tan make it one of the most photographed natural sites, but it is also lovely when snow covers the upper rims.

4. Kilauea

(Image Credit: Image Editor)

Hawaii's Kilauea is the world's most active volcano, and has been flowing lava since 1983. Night-time views of the lava slowly winding its way to the sea are awe-inspiring visions of the power of nature. Equally impressive are the images of the lava exploding as it encounters the water. Since Kilauea is a shield volcano, lacking the conical shape of Mt. Fuji or Mt. Hood, it is the flowing lava rather than the volcano itself that lends itself to magnificent photographs.

5. Amazon Rainforest

(Image Credit: Mark Goble)

The diversity of the plant life can create a brilliant panorama. When some of its inhabitants are included, the view is instantly transformed. More than twenty percent of all known bird species live in the rain forest, and brightly coloured specimens like the scarlet macaw would be wonderful subjects by themselves. Against a backdrop of foliage and flowers, the various inhabitants bring life and movement to any panorama.

6. Sahara Desert

(Image Credit: John Atherton)

The Sahara covers most of North Africa, and in its arid zone it consists mainly of wadis, gravel plains, and sand dunes. Some of the dunes can achieve heights of almost 600 feet. The winds make sure that the desert is ever-changing, moving the dunes and carving new patterns constantly. Twilight and sunrise can create interesting variations of hue in what can be a monochromatic expanse during daylight hours.

7. Sequoia National Park

(Image Credit: Sanjoy Ghosh)

California's Sequoia National Park is best known for the giant redwoods and the park holds half of the world's ten largest trees when measured by lumber volume. The bases of these trees can exceed 35 feet, and are sufficiently impressive to earn the park a place of merit on any compilation of nature's beauty. However, most visitors do not know that the park is also riddled with caves. The only one that is currently open to visitors is the Crystal Cave, which runs for almost three and a half miles and features a dazzling array of stalactites and stalagmites.

8. Great Barrier Reef

(Image Credit: Sarah Ackerman)

The Great Barrier Reef, which lies off the coast of Australia, is the largest reef system in the world. Massive enough to be visible from outer space, the system is home to a diverse assortment of life. Above the waters, more than 200 species of birds use the islands for roosting or nesting. Below the waves, the coral reefs are home to at least 1,500 varieties of fish, including the red throated emperor and the clownfish.

9. Fjords

(Image Credit: Neil Carey)

Fjords are long, steep sided inlets carved by glaciers. The fjords in Scandinavia and Greenland are among the most spectacular in the world. Often surrounded by walls of ice, their rugged beauty demonstrates the power of glaciers and their role in shaping the world's geography.

10. Transient Natural Phenomena

(Image Credit: Beverly)

Some of nature's most spectacular images cannot be photographed at will. For instance, a bolt of lightning splitting the night sky or the power of a tornado roaring across the empty expanse of the plains are beautiful natural views that can only be captured by being in the right place at the right time. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, present when solar winds interact with the earth's magnetosphere and are usually only visible in northern latitudes where the sky is quite dark. Volcanic eruptions, waterspouts, rogue waves, and shooting stars cannot be predicted, yet all can produce awe-inspiring images.

A Thousand More Free Textures

2010-07-24T09:39:00.000+02:00

I've posted about free textures earlier and how to bulk download them from Flickr. In addition to this collection I found another resource. You can use these free textures for print and Web designs. The files are compatible with Photoshop, InDesign, QuarkXPress, Illustrator, and more. There are about a thousand free textures like Stained Paper, Old Book Covers, Old Books, Peeling Grunge, Liquid Ink and lots more.

New HDR Tool: Oloneo PhotoEngine

2010-07-23T12:48:00.001+02:00

Last week I've been testing a new and very promising HDR Tool from Oloneo called PhotoEngine. It's targeted for natural looking HDR photo results. You can go over the top, but only if you wanted. It's much easier to get a natural looking picture than other tools. See my example photo here:

Besides the natural look Oloneo PhotoEngine has some great features.

It's really, really fast. My example is build up by 9 exposures to capture the complete dynamic range. I processed it to 16-bits Tiff files in Pro RGB color space. Within a 20 to 30 seconds it shows the default tone mapping.
It's really, really fast. During editing the appearance changes immediately with the sliders. No hick-up, now waiting. It's great to see the photo change at your finger tips.
No loss of detail and color. Oloneo PhotoEngine edits in 96-bits and writes the results back to a 16-bits Tiff file in Pro RGB color space. So re-importing the file in Lightroom will give you maximum flexibility to alter the photo further.

There a some issues, because it's still a beta version. Here are some of my findings:

It doesn't handle ghosting very well. Tools like Photomatix are doing a great job on removing moving objects and people. The aligning gets better and better.

There's no integration with Lightroom. The folks at Oloneo told me they are considering adding such features in a future beta . So for now, you have to export the files and import them into Lightroom. Afterwards you can import the HDR result back into Lightroom.
There's a small, but annoying issue with this workflow. During export PhotoEngine tries to analyse the exported files when you switch to PhotoEngine after exporting from Lightroom, PhotoEngine cannot read the last exported file. Here's the response from Oloneo:

"In fact, PhotoEngine is a bit too fast to check for file changes! As soon

as it detects a new file, it tries to to analyze it and then fail because

the other application has not finished writing it. This will be fixed in a future beta."

The tool is very promising and worth trying. It's still a beta release and free to download. Watch the demo below:

Free Textures and Bulk Download

2010-07-22T14:29:00.000+02:00

There are a lot of free textures on the web for download. The good thing is that some can be used commercially without any conditions, but you have to check out it yourself. One of the best free sets is of Caleb Kimbrough from Lost And Taken. He also has lots of sets on FlickR with beautiful free textures called Dark and Dirty, Blue Metal, White and Black Grunge, Re-Stained Paper, Marble, Concrete, etc. At this moment of writing there are 97 sets available.

Downloading them can be time consuming because you have to select all textures individually and select the original size. Lots of clicks and lots of chances to make mistakes. An easier approach is the Adobe Air application Flickr Bulkr. It lets you easily download/backup your photostream, all of your sets, your favorites or photos from Flickr search, and the texture sets of Caleb Kimbrough.

After installing and authorizing the application with Flickr, go to the flickr tab and choose User. Paste this url http://www.flickr.com/photos/calebkimbrough/sets/ and it´s much easier to get all the wonderful textures. Make sure you make a donation to Caleb after downloading.

iPad as Second Display for Lightroom

2010-07-19T14:10:00.001+02:00

Last time I summed up 4 iPad apps that are useful for photographers. Here's another one, MaxiVista. It makes your iPad a second monitor for your computer. It works for PC and laptop and increases the work size during post-processing.

After installing the iPad app and the windows server program, the connection is established automatically. It works great with Adobe Lightroom 3. Open Lightroom and select Window->Secondary Display->Grid (or Shift+G) to see the library grid on the iPad, so you can process individual photos in the develop module. Check out the website of MaxiVista here: http://www.maxivista.com/ipad_monitor.htm. They also have a demo video.

4 Must have iPad apps for serious photographers

2010-06-26T14:34:00.000+02:00

There are a lot of Apple iPad apps in the Apple appstore related to photography. Not that many are very useable for the serious photographer. Lots of effects and distortion apps for relative low res photos. I found myself several apps useful for me as a photographer. None of them are effects or photoshop-like apps.

1. LightTrac for iPad
LightTrac is a must have tool for any outdoor photographer interested in knowing the best times to shoot their subjects outdoors. Use this to find out Sun's elevation and direction over any outdoor subject at any time of day. Use it to scout for new locations ahead of time. Use this tool to be there at the right spot at the right time. This app also displays the different phases of the moon in the month and also the current phase of the moon. More ...

2. Strobox
Strobox app is a lighting diagram creator for all types of photographers. Whether you want to repeat the same photo-shoot or share with others how you made that cool photo, Strobox app will give you just the right tools to do so. It generates PNG file that you can share with anyone as easy as by sending it by email within this app.

This app gives you over 25+ lighting equipments to choose from (with plans to add more):
- Backdrops
- Strobes
- Softboxes
- Umbrellas
- Hairlighs
- Diffussion panel

More...

3. Easy Release
Easy Release by ApplicationGap replaces inconvenient paper release forms with a slick, streamlined application designed by professional photographers for professional photographers.

- Lets you collect all the data and signatures you need right on your iPhone, then mails a PDF and JPEG of the release right to you.

- Comes pre-bundled with industry standard model and property releases in 12 languages that are currently in use by leading photo agencies like Getty Images, Alamy and others.

- Shoot and embed an ID photo right into the release PDF.

More ...

4. BlogPress

BlogPress is an easy to use app for iPad. With it, you can write your blog on the road, share news and photos with your friends in real time. It supports Flickr, PicasaWeb, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It doesn't do a great job at changing the markup.

More ...

6 Tips for landscape photography outside the Golden Hours

2010-06-22T14:10:00.004+02:00

The other day I read an article called something like "light is everything". I don't remember if it was a blogpost or in a magazine. Anyway, the author wrote he never a photo anymore outside the golden hours, the two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset. With respect to his title, I understand the point he's making. The best quality of light is during this periode. The light is warm and defines textures at their best.

However to say you'll only shoot under this conditions, you Will limit yourself unnecessary. There are lots of opportunities besides the Golden Hours to shoot incredible landscapes. With the following tips, I hope to inspire you to keep shooting, to creatively and by no means to limit yourself, whatever.

1. Shoot from unusual angles
It's hard to shoot great landscapes during midday, especially in summer. The shadows are hard and deep. One way to overcome this problem is to shoot from unusual angles, eg from low to the ground and photographing up to the sky. Or using a high-angle view.

2. Shoot after sunset and before surise
When the sun is set, it doesn't mean photographing has to end. There are lots of great landscapes shot under moonlight. Using long exposures can create unexpected results.

Even using articial light can create stunning effects. Here I used my car healights to illuminate a part of the forest. For more tips and tricks about low-light photography you can read Night and Low-Light Photography: Professional Techniques from Experts for Artistic and Commercial Success.

3. Look for shapes and go black and white
Another way to deal with harsh shadows is to look for nice shapes that wil look great in black and white. Watch for possible silhouettes or natural lines to add impact to your composition. If you find it hard to pre-visualize the scene in black and white, shoot in RAW, but set your camera to a black and white setting. If possible choose a yellow or red filter preset for landscapes. During post-processing you can make better decisions to convert the image to black and white.

For this image I used a Hoya 77mm Neutral Density ND-400 X, 9 Stop Multi-Coated Glass Filter to get a long exposure during midday.

4. Enjoy a foggy day
During a day full of fog, you can shoot all day long. The muted tones are great for landscape scenics. But even with these conditions, light is everything. Try to use compass or take a very close look to the trees to see where the light is comming from. Try to avoid front light, where the sun becomes right from the back of you. This will flatten the scene.

5. Make use of changing weather
On some days the weather is changing every minute. Light changes fast because of the fast moving clouds leaving wonderful random patches of light at the lanscape. It takes more patience than during the golden hours to get the shot you want, but patience will pay off. Try to estimate the movements of the clouds and therefore the light to get the most impact on your main subject.

6. Rainy or overcast days are great for forest shoots
Even on rainy days there are a lot of opportunities. Especially in the woods. the greens are more saturated and the light is even. With a lots of sunlight at midday and even during the golden hours, The contrast between highlights and shadows can hard to deal with. The even light can be your friend in the forest.

I realize there are lots and lots more conditions to shoot great pictures outside the golden hours. Please leave some comments with your thoughts, otherwise I hope this article inspires you to go outside and shoot great pics.

Biker

2010-06-13T00:18:00.001+02:00

Today, well actually yesterday since it's just a few minutes after midnight, I did a quick shoot with my friend Cor. He build his own bike! Here are my favourite shots of the day.

Here's the lighting diagram of the last photo.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Advanced Tutorial: Selective Color Cast Correction in Lightroom

2010-05-22T18:25:00.000+02:00

In the tutorial selective color cast correction I wrote a method to correct a color cast in a specific part of the photo with Photoshop. But the same method can be applied with Lightroom. This tutorial descibes how to determine the right color and how to selectively remove a color cast in a non-destructive way.

Let's take a look at the next cute dog portrait. Zoomed in on the shadow beneath the head, we can see a distinctive green color cast. The grass reflects the green cast.

Zoomed image:

Step 1:
Use an adjustment brush (hit k-key) and choose the color picker. Hold down the left mouse button and hover to the area with the color cast. In our example it's under the dogs chin.

Step 2:
In the bottom left corner you can see the Hue of the current selected color. Change this color to the opposite color of the color cast by adding 180. In our example: 56 + 180 = 236. Enter this value.

Note: The maximum value is 360. So if the sum of the values is above 360, subtract from the calculated value. For example 185 + 180 = 365. Now subtract 360: 365 - 360 = 5.

Step 3:
Set the adjustment brush flow to 50 (shortcut hit 5) and paint over the color cast. Choose a brush and uncheck Auto Mask. Repeat this with multiple instances for different casts.

Step 4:
In Lightroom hit the Y key (shift Y toggles different views) and view the Before and After images.

Original and Removed Color cast

Now we have corrected a selective part of the image within Lightroom. Great advantage is it's non-destructive and the corrections can be copied easily to other photos.

Hope you like this tutorial.

LRB Portfolio 2.6 launched

2010-05-20T11:21:00.000+02:00

Sean McCormack released a new version of the Lightroom Website Plugin LRB Portfolio 2.6. My website is build with his great template and is published directly from Lightroom.

You can find the release notes and update at the lightroom-blog of Sean: lightroom-blog.com/2010/05/lrb-portfolio-2-6-launched.html

6 Ways to manipulate your landscape and nature photos without Photoshop

2010-05-06T16:53:00.000+02:00

There are lots of tutorials of Photoshop techniques to manipulate and improve your photos after you've taken the shot. However, there are a lot of photographic techniques to improve landscape and nature photos without spending time using photoshop. As a starter, here are ten simple techniques:

1. Clean sensor, filters and lenses
Make sure you clean your sensor before going out. With the use of small apertures, you'll see all sensor spots. Without cleaning there will be a lot of Photoshop post-processing to clean up the photo. Cleaning the filters and lenses is like cleaning the sensor, this can save you a lot of time. Use soft cleaning tissues and clean them regularly, even during the shoot.

2. Clean up your frame
Make sure there'll be no waste visible in your frame. This will cost a lot of cloning and stamping in Photoshop. Just bin it. It saves time and the environment ;-) A little gardening can help too, but with respect to nature.

3. Use a warmer white balance

To improve a sunset shot, select the cloudy or shade white balance. The sunset will turn into warm deep orange colors. On a sunny day a cloudy white balance can warm up your landscape and give it a nice touch too.

4. Use a ND Filter

A Neutral Density filter can hold a lot of light and in combination with a low ISO setting and a small aperture, you can get long exposures, even in daylight. Using long exposures can dramatically change a photo. For this photo I used a Hoya NDX400 filter to hold back 10 stops of light. With a long shutter speed I got motion in the sky. It can also be useful for waterfall and or sea shots.

5. Use a Circular Polarizer
A circular polarizer improves contrast and skies, but also removes glares. This can be particular helpful shooting scenics with water. You can really see through the water with a circular polarizer. In for example a forest it will increase color. So bump up the saturation with this must-have filter.

6. Manipulate the foreground

Manipulating the foreground can make a big difference to a photo. It's virtually impossible to do this easily within Photoshop. In this example, the branch in the foreground, was laying behind me. I missed something in the foreground and brought the branch into the frame, exactly where I wanted it to be. Without the branch the photo would have a dull foreground. It's all about your own imagination and what's available to you during the shoot. You can use leaves, branches, rocks, etc. to fill the foreground or make footsteps in the sand.

Do you want to share your own tips, please comment at the bottom of this post.

Canon 5D mark II Essential Resources

2010-05-02T13:25:00.000+02:00

Hooray, I bought myself a new camera: the Canon EOS 5D Mark II (5D mk II). I collected some useful resources:

Jeffrey’s Autofocus Test Chart for micro adjustments to overcome back focus and front focus.
Newest Firmware Update for the 5D Mark II
iPhone Remote App to control the camera remotely from an iPhone
Supercharged High Speed Sync, improved EOS 5D Mark II support in new firmware for PocketWizard MiniTT1, FlexTT5 a great article about using the PocketWizard with the 5D Mark II
Planet 5D a blog with all kinds of articles related to the 5D Mark II
Change the picture style of the video by using Pictures Style Presets, but watch the tutorial first or read this (although the desciption is for the 7D it also applies for the 5D Mark II).

Prints for Sale

2010-02-04T17:40:00.000+01:00

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters are now available to buy online from as low as US$3.32.

Finely-crafted custom frames create stunning art pieces. Frames are crafted from quality timbers in a range of finishes. A white, off-white or black matte surrounds the print to emphasize the work and bring the piece to life. Premium ultra-clear perspex in front provides a superior finish and means the piece is lighter and easier for you to move without breaking.